Uncharted Waters

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Brokenness

After a recent conversation, I have been thinking about the concept of "brokenness" as it relates to our lives and specifically for those of us who attempt to follow Christ. The dictionary defines brokenness as something, "Forcibly separated into two or more pieces; fractured." Now none of us wants to think of ourselves as broken, that's not a good image. When we think of things that are broken we think of things that are no longer sparkling, usable, and are often discarded. We think of pain! For good reason we avoid these types of images because this is not the picture of things we think are strong, valuable, or attractive. However, things that still have all their paint or are still flashy are things that have never been used, tested, and tried. My wife and I recently went on a hiking trip with shoes that had not been broken-in. You can imagine what our feet looked like after a couple of days of that type of treatment. Our feet and ankles were "sore" to state it mildly. But after several days of use those shoes started to feel better on our feet, although they weren't as pretty as when we stared. They had lost some of their out of the box shine. They had dirt and mud on them and in places some of the fabric had been damaged. Can we relate? I know that I can.
When we start out in life we too have the fresh out of the box shimmer and smell, but ever so quickly life's experiences change all of that. We get bumps and bruises that sometimes are hard to bounce back from. But we are told that to be successful, popular, and attractive we cannot have any of these so called "blemishes" (None of our fabric can be damaged). However, I have seen time and time again how God has used these blemishes or "yes" even brokenness to help me and others that I know relate to those who are currently facing similar circumstances in their lives. Don't get me wrong, I don't like pain anymore than the next person and I certainly don't believe "God sends difficult circumstances our way." But the scars we carry on our selves can sometimes help us relate and even encourage those around us. This reminds me of one of my favorite passages of scripture, "But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us" (2 Corinthians 4:7ff). It is through cracks in our lives that Christ's love, hope, and even joy can be made visible and shared with others. We are not perfect as we would like to be, but through the amazing presence of God at work in and through us...we can often be more useful to others.